This isn't a Christmas memory, but I had the good fortune to meet the lovely Letty and to see a picture of her when she was singing. A tall, elegant blonde in a simple long dress. Gorgeous. I'm heartbroken that you don't have any recordings.
RealJohnBoy, your story captivated me. I was right there with you and your friend as a part of the nativity scene, as guests of the gracious man from Livingstonia. You should publish this story, it is what the true and beautiful spirit of Christmas is all about. Thank you for sharing it with us.
Ah, Diane. You are such a dear. My husband has a ton of recordings of the group and I'm not on a single one.
As a child growning up in Saudi Arabia, the europeans (christians) that lived there would put on a xmas nativity scene. The arabs (muslims) would help out by bringing camels and sheep to help stage the nativity scene. Afterwards the local arabs (muslims) would take us kids for rides on their camels.
Gorsh, dys. That is fabulous. What a wonder that must have been for you kids. Christians and Muslims in accord. Now that's a beautiful memory and I suspect what Christmas is all about.
Good evening everyone
Diane wrote:I had the good fortune to meet the lovely Letty and to see a picture of her when she was singing. A tall, elegant blonde in a simple long dress. Gorgeous. I'm heartbroken that you don't have any recordings.
Wow... that's exactly how I imagined you to be! I don't know how I thought of it. Did you ever see Letty singing, Diane?
Letty wrote:... Well, drom. I was a teacher, and am now retired. I first began a career working in radio, and then in radio and television. Then, I finished undergraduate and graduate school and taught for many years, singing on weekends and during the Christmas season. Would I do it over again? You bet, my friend. It was good money and lots of fun (sometimes)...
Wow; I'm amazed at how so many people have been on television here. I've only been on the box once or twice; they probably called me in as filler who would get people to react. What did you do on radio and television? What did you teach? I'm sorry if this barage of questions is tiresome. Out of all your careers, which one did you enjoy the best, if you did enjoy one the best? Is your husband still involved in Music?
realjohnboy wrote:"You can not stay here," he said.
We instinctively started to gather together our stuff.
"You can not stay here because you must stay at my house."
I loved this story, too, realjohnboy; it's so beautiful and it does reflect what Christmas should be. We should have a A2K stories book, in which everyone tells a few tales.
dyslexia wrote:As a child growning up in Saudi Arabia, the europeans (christians) that lived there would put on a xmas nativity scene. The arabs (muslims) would help out by bringing camels and sheep to help stage the nativity scene. Afterwards the local arabs (muslims) would take us kids for rides on their camels.
Co-operation, compromise and memories; that is what Christmas is supposed to be. How long did you live in Saudi Arabia, if you don't mind my asking? Have you visited there since you left?
Heh,heh! Drom, I don't mind the questions. I became quite used to questions as a teacher; answering all of them, now that's a different story.
Diane saw my photo when she came by our home to give me a lift to the Florida gathering, but she has never heard me sing in the professional sense. She's heard me talk a lot, however.
A humorous gig story:
We played for a private wedding reception at Christmas, that turned out to be a fiasco. The decorators had live love birds among other fancy stuff. Before the evening was over, the love birds attacked each other and ultimately, both ended up in a bloody heap on the floor of the elaborate cage. The father of the bride got smashed, and hit his wife over the head with her own purse. The band played on, of course, between smothered laughter and with a sense of dedication. I ran to the ladies room and laughed my arse off. Needless to say, the bride and groom were somewhat abashed, and amidst rice and bloody birds, left hastily for their honeymoon
Big wooden bowls full of walnuts, hazelnuts, pecans and almonds, with nutcrackers and nutpicks at the side . . . bowls of apples and oranges . . . hot apple pies, pumpkin pies, pecan pies, minced meat pies, and "sugar pies"--the left over pie dough spread with butter and smothered in cinnamon and sugar, served to the little ones with their breakfast in seaon . . . roasted hams, mutton, beef, chickens (no turkey, thank you), potatoes, swee'patatahs, green beans, butter beans, stewed tomatoes, pickles, pickled carrots, asparagus, sweet corn--all the product of our labors . . . fudge, divinity (a confectioner's sugar "white" fudge), sugar cookies, butter cookies, oatmeal-raisin cookies . . .
Christmas always meant a feast--for the eyes and nose, as well as the belly . . .
Ah, Setanta, How delightful the smells and sounds of Christmas are. Who did all that luscious cooking at your house? I see that it made you increase in wisdom and stature and in favor with just about everybody.
Nonny . . . which is what we all called my grandmother, and which i am told was the closest i could come to saying "Mawmaw," or "Grandmaw" when i was learning to speak . . . a grand cook she was, too . . .
Letty, I think Dys (Bob) is so level headed and has a refreshing lack of nationalism because of his years growing up in Arabia. Combine that with his being a skinny Colorado cowboy and you've got a pretty wonderful package.
Set, I could smell all those wonderful aromas wafting out of my Granny's kitchen. She raised her own chickens in the back yard and grew gooseberries, in addition to pumpkins and other good things. I also remember being allowed to set the table with her good silver when I was 5 years old. It was such an honor. The smell of china cabinets is evocative of that time.
Christmas there was magic for me, especially because her warm lap was always available for a sleepy little girl who wanted a bedtime story. With her endless supply of books, I had to be forced to say goodnight.
Yes, Diane. Refreshing.
I always get nostalgic when I think of this particulary song that was requested during the endless season of music and gigs.
I'll be home for Christmas,
You can count on me.
Please have snow and mistletoe
And presents on the tree.
Christmas eve will find me.
Where the starlight gleams.
I'll be home for Christmas.
If only in my dreams.
Still sing that one.
At this moment, I think that I shall hang my mistletoe. Big kiss to all of you.
Good night from Florida
Smooches to {{{{{Letty}}}}}.
Ohh Letty.....You made me think of the Christmas that my mother and I decided that we would have a real Christmas tree and everything on it would be homemade.
We spent one afternoon heading out the middle of the woods where we'd found this huge cedar tree earlier in the year, during deer season. We decided then that we'd cut it down and decorate it. It seemed like at 13, I chopped all day, finally it cracked and fell and the top was split about half way up and unusable. LOL......But we did the right thing.....we thought...lol, we used string and tied it together and had one of the prettiest trees around.
Well.....we get this tree home, and set it up and work for a whole week decorating it. Homemade sugar cookies that I had painted, cut out snowflakes, popcorn balls, popcorn sting...candy canes, you name it, it was all handmade.
Finally....were done!!!.....that afternoon late, my lil sister decided that she'd water the tree and the brat knocked it over and broke all the cookies off it, waded up the string of popcorn....into knots, the ribbon on half of the popcorn balls were tore off and unusable, some of them even broke into half.. it was a fiasco. All my hard work torn down in seconds...lmao. My mother walked in there and seen what had happened and just walked off and told her, I'll just let your sister deal with this....lol
I don't remember what I said, just remember crying. I have to remind her of it just about every Christmas when she mentions making sugar cookies with her kids and how beautiful her tree looks......which we get a big laugh out of now.
Which reminds me.........
makemeshiver, I see that your sister survived. There was a time when I thought an artificial tree was the pits, but no longer. Well, at least you had the experience of doing it the old fashioned way.
How's this for synchronicity. Just watched A Christmas Memory on Hallmark the other night. It was an excellent memory of Truman Capote.
Wow. This thread is bringing back a lot of sweet and amusing memories.
"Oh my it's fruitcake weather. Fetch my buggy. Bring me my hat." I love that story. Check this out::
http://www.geocities.com/cyber_explorer99/capotechristmas.html
And, while I'm reminiscing, did anyone here ever have a tree where the angel, star, shiny spire, or whatever, on top of the tree, didn't tilt to the side?
ah, dear Raggedy, and your link seals the deal.
Standing on a small ladder,
Avoiding the spines of the tree,
Trying to say, doesn't matter,
The angel is tipsy,
Not me.
Letty: Did you make that verse up? (lol) I love it. Yep, I guess tree trimming was a rather tipsy time.
Yes, Raggedy. To quote Saki: "Romance at short notice is my speciality."
Anyone here know where I can get Rich Little's "Christmas Carol"...He played all the parts, mimicking everyone. Tiny Tim was Rich Little doing Truman Capote. What a fantastic talent.
